1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to container closures and more specifically to a removable and reusable container closure, cap, or lid for containers having an oval or elliptical cross section shape that is also water tight. The invention is also adaptable to other non-circular containers or housings.
2. Background of the Invention and Description of the Prior Art
Containers or housings having a circular cross section present little difficulty in providing a reusable cap or closure because the latter may also be round, which enables the use of screw threads to secure the cap. While making such closures water tight imposes an additional requirement on the design, the use of gaskets or other features are readily adapted for round containers and reusable closures thereof. In contrast, non-circular containers or housings for an article, e.g., having an oval or elliptical cross section, or, typically, a rectangular cross section, present problems for a designer, particularly if the access to the interior of the container or housing must be water tight. Further, providing a water tight lid, cap, or closure for an oval-shaped container that is also reusable through many cycles presents additional challenges not yet solved by the known prior art.
Some known solutions include caps or containers that are fabricated of flexible materials so that the cap or the container is deformable, enabling it to conform to the shape of the container or the cap as it is rotated or deformed while removing or replacing the cap. However, such a cap may or may not be water tight, and the selection of materials is a trade off between deformability of the components, the integrity of the closure, and the longevity of the closure or seal. Another solution is to form an end panel extending inward from the sides of the container a sufficient distance to enable provision in the end panel for a circular cap or lid, including conventional threads. In other containers, structures such as opposed cams and locking arms, snap-fit closure mechanisms, and the like may be used for securing a cap or lid to the container or housing.
Another known device—an oval deodorant container—uses the principle of a screw jack to gradually expel a solid bar of the deodorant from within a round or oval container. A fixed, round knob attached to the lower end of a shaft having screw threads and rotating in a fixed bulkhead disposed at one end of the oval container causes a movable bulkhead or carrier disposed on the shaft having screw threads to traverse the inside of the container, thereby “jacking” or elevating the solid bar away from the opposite end of the housing to expose it for use.
It is known that a cap, lid, or closure for a round or circular container or housing that is threaded offers several advantages, namely reusability, ease of use, good tactile feedback of a tight closure, and the ability to provide a water tight seal when fully seated. However, while a bulkhead having a circular opening for a circular cap is one option, the disadvantage of this is that the size of the access opening must be limited to something less than the smallest diameter of the container or housing. This limitation is a serious disadvantage in housings or containers in which the entire internal cross section of the housing or container must be open for inserting or removing the contents of the housing. Further, if a container or housing is designed with a non-circular cross section, providing a water tight seal becomes a greater challenge, subject to increased complexity and expense. Even then, the integrity of such a seal can be seriously degraded if the container or housing becomes distorted.
There is thus a need for a solution to the problem of providing a reusable, water tight cap or lid for a container or housing that has a non-circular cross section.